White Sox Notes: Players focused on remaining games

CHICAGO – For anyone hoping the White Sox suddenly will turnaround their season, the players are trying to forget the past and focus on the remaining games.

Sox captain Paul Konerko acknowledged the season hasn’t gone as expected, and now they have two months left to move on and play better.

“It is difficult but that’s why it’s not easy being a big league ballplayer,” Konerko said. “That’s why there’s millions of guys who don’t make it. So, no, it’s not easy. It’s a grind. But you just keep doing it. This is what we do and this is what we’ve chosen to do, so it doesn’t matter if it’s hard, easy or whatever.”

It hasn’t been a good year offensively for Konerko either. Konerko, who is in the last year of his contract, entered Saturday’s game against the Royals hitting .248 with seven home runs and 33 RBIs.

“You’ve just got to grind through as best you can and just keep playing the game,” Konerko said. “That’s what it gets reduced down to and that’s where we’re at. We just have to find the joy in that and go out there and do it every day.”

Beckham showing promise: Although second baseman Gordon Beckham conceded that the strained ligament in his left wrist will be sore the next couple weeks, wrist problems haven’t completely derailed his season.

Despite any frustrations at being limited to playing in only 48 of the Sox’s 100 games, Beckham’s adjustments he made at the plate near the end of last season have carried over with solid results. He’s batting .320 – the best of his five-year career – with two home runs and 13 RBIs.

“You get a better idea of what he’s going to be looking in the future, what he can do,” Ventura said. “That’s all positive stuff. The wrist stuff has been flukish stuff, really. When he goes to the plate I expect him to get a hit, that’s where he’s at right now, or at least hit it hard.”

Southpaws litter rotation: Starting four left-handers certainly is unusual, but the Sox have no plans to change their starting rotation.

Most major league rotations feature one or two lefties, and the Royals are the only exception in the American League. Kansas City’s normal rotation doesn’t have any left-handers, a stark contrast to the Sox’s four lefties, led by Chris Sale, who started Saturday against the Royals.

“If you’re facing all righties, it’s probably not [ideal], but if you start running down the teams that have a lot lefties, it’s probably pretty good,” Ventura said of the Sox’s lefty-filled rotation. “At this point, we are what we are. We’re wanting the best guys that we have, it doesn’t matter really which way they throw. These are the guys that deserve to be here.”